1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for searching and comparing images and, more specifically, to a method and apparatus for comparing one or more reference images with one or more locally or remotely located candidate images.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The growth of computer networks and increases in computer processing capabilities has lead to the development of many databases or repositories of digitized or electronic images and graphics. The growing areas of multimedia, animation, special effects, etc. use digitized or electronic images or graphics. Storing or creating such images in a digital or electronic format, i.e., as a series of zeros and ones, allows such files to be easily stored, communicated, manipulated, and reproduced as needed by the applications.
Many companies use or develop databases of images or graphic files. Such databases may be centrally or remotely located. For example, a company may keep or maintain a database of schematics or other images relating to the manufacture, assembly, and maintenance of products the company develops and sells. As another example, a company may store pictures or images of artwork, posters, paintings, antiques, real property, etc. that the company has available for sale or rent. Such databases of images are often searched periodically by people who are looking for a specific image or who are attempting to find matches between an image they may create or provide and images in the database. A user may access the database servers from a computer, terminal, or other client device, which can be locally or directly connected to the database servers or which can be remotely connected to the database servers via a local or wide area computer or other communications network. Often times, however, limitations on the ability to quickly search through the image databases or to efficiently compare images provided by the user to images in the image databases significantly reduce the utility of the image databases.
The growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web has created a proliferation of web sites accessible by a user with a browser-enabled computer, terminal, or other client device. The Internet and the World Wide Web act as a large and continuously expanding depository or distributed database of image files. Unfortunately, the rapid growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web has also lead to the unauthorized and illegal use, copying, manipulation, modification, and distribution of many images and has increased the ability to pirate software files, music sound files, text files, and other digital or electronic files and images.
Once a database or depository of images is created, it is often desirable to search the database for a specific image or to compare images in the database, referred to here as candidate images, with other images provided by a user, device, software application, etc., often referred to as reference images. The candidate images may be located centrally in one or more image databases. Alternatively, the images might be stored in a distributed manner, such as on numerous web sites connected to the World Wide Web. Regardless of how or where the candidate images are located or stored, the user desires to locate such candidate images and compare them to the reference images provided by the user.
A person or company concerned that its software files, music or sound files, text files, and other digital or electronic files or images have been illegally used or posted on one or more web sites might want to search the World Wide Web for such illegally used or posted or copied files and the web sites on which they are posted or stored. For example, the Walt Disney Company might be concerned that images of cartoon characters it owns, such as Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse, have been used or posted on a web site without permission. Therefore, the Walt Disney Company might want to search the World Wide Web looking for such images. Another company, such as the Microsoft Corporation, concerned that one of its software programs has been illegally copied onto a web site accessible via the World Wide Web, might want to search the World Wide Web looking for illegally posted copies of the software program.
Unfortunately, comparing two images or two digital files can be a very time consuming process. Therefore, despite the state of the art in image and pattern recognition, there remains a need for an efficient apparatus and method to search for one or more candidate images and to compare such candidate images to one or more reference images. Preferably, the image comparison will recognize and find patterns present in candidate images regardless of the scale, shape, rotation, or translation of the patterns in the candidate images. In addition, the apparatus and method will preferably allow candidate images to be retrieved from centralized and/or distributed databases or repositories of images for comparison to reference images.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for searching for and comparing images.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for comparing reference images and candidate images.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for comparing images stored in one or more centralized or distributed databases of images with one or more reference images created, selected, identified, or otherwise provided by a user or client device.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for the efficient comparison of sound and music files, software files, text files, graphic files, and other images.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for searching for and finding pirated, illegal, or otherwise unauthorized copies of sound and music files, software files, text files, graphic files, and other images.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for searching for images having selected or desirable textures, colors, shapes, sizes, etc.
Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention shall be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The objects and the advantages may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and in combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method for enabling a user to compare one or more images includes producing one or more reference images; producing one or more candidate images; comparing one or more of the reference images with one or more of the candidate images using optical correlation; and providing results of the comparison to the user.
To further achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method for enabling a user to search for one or more images that may be stored in or on one or more web sites includes producing one or more reference images; searching one or more of the web sites to find one or more candidate images; retrieving or downloading one or more of the candidate images from one or more of the web sites; and comparing one or more candidate images with one or more reference images.
Also to achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, an apparatus for enabling a user to compare one or more images includes means for producing one or more reference images; means for producing one or more candidate images; optical correlation means for comparing one or more of the reference images with one or more of the candidate images; and means for providing results of the comparison to the user.
Also to achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, an article of manufacture includes a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code means embodied therein for comparing images, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture including means for producing one or more reference images; means for producing one or more candidate images; means for comparing one or more of the reference images with one or more of the candidate images; and means for providing results of the comparison to the user.
Also to achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for comparing images, the method including producing one or more reference images; producing one or more candidate images; comparing one or more of the reference images with one or more of the candidate images using optical correlation; and providing results of the comparison to the user.
Also to achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method for enabling a user or device to compare one or more images includes producing a reference image; producing a candidate image; creating a lower resolution version of said reference image; creating a lower resolution version of said candidate image; and comparing said lower resolution version of said reference image to said lower resolution version of said candidate image.
Also to achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, an apparatus for enabling a user to search for one or more images that may be stored in or on one or more web sites includes means for producing one or more reference images; means for searching one or more of the web sites to find one or more candidate images; means for retrieving or downloading one or more of said candidate images from one or more of the web sites; and means for comparing one or more candidate images with one or more reference images.
Also to achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, an apparatus for enabling a user or device to compare one or more images includes means for producing a reference image; means for producing a candidate image; means for creating a lower resolution version of said reference image; means for creating a lower resolution version of said candidate image; and means for comparing said lower resolution version of said reference image to said lower resolution version of said candidate image.